Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/28

10 coming to Java, we were anxious to make the most of our time.

The principal features which strike the eye in European Batavia are the numerous canals by which the town is intersected. The streets on either side of these canals are very regular, and the tall Verengen trees with their long spreading branches, covered with foliage, form avenues pleasing to the sight, and afford a delightful shade from the sultry heat of the day.

In our morning rides we used to be interested by the animated scene the canals presented. We were particularly amused by the numerous ponies undergoing their morning bath, a common practice throughout the East, though accompanied by some risk from more than one cause; the first and foremost being the chance of catching the glanders, or some other infectious disease.

Farther on, in a more retired part, we saw, not unfrequently, tiny boats—formed from a plantain